THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE   COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH   CAROLINIANA 


G378 

UK3 

lS3l4}.i 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00036720469 


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A  LECTURE 

ON    THE    SUBJECT    OF 
DEtlVERED    BEFORE 

THE  NORTH  CAROLINA 
JJVSTITUT£    OF    £ n  UC^l  I'lOJV, 

JUNE  26,  1834. 

BY    EL,1SHA   MITCHELL,,  A.  M. 

Professor  of  Chemistry,  Mineralogy   and  Geology,  in  the  University 
of  North  Carolina. 


5BINTED  BY    ISAAC    C.   PATBIDGE-, 

1834, 


^A 


I^ECTFRE. 


J/r.  President  and  GentJcmcn  of  the  Institute: 

I  WILL,  with  your  leave,  inform  this  auihence.  that  ouf  appointments,  for 
this  occasion,  are  two  in  number.  An  annual  address  with  which  we  hopet]  to  be 
favoured  from  a  gentleman  of  sueli  talent  and  abihty,  that  had  he  not  been  caHcd  by 
other  engagements  to  a  distant  part  of  the  country,  their  taste  and  judgment  would 
have  been  fully  satisfied.  Secondly,  a  lecture  on  common  schools — a  sort  of  after- 
piece, of  less  substantial  materials — of  lighter  texture — and  a  brevity  which  but  for 
its  relation  to  the  other,  that  has  just  been  stated,  would,  I  fear,  appear  unseemly 
and  indecorous. 

It  is  remarked  by  Sismondi  that  some  of  the  great  revolutions  which  have  changcj 
the  condition  and  character  of  nations  attracted  no  attention  whilst  they  were  in 
progress.  The  agents  by  which  they  were  efiectcd  were  des|jised  as  insiffnifieant, 
and  proceeding  slowly  and  in  silence,  they  were  already  far  advanced  towards  their 
accomplishment  before  they  were  known  to  have  commenced.  When  generations 
separated  from  each  other  by  an  interval  of  many  years  were  compared,  men  disco- 
vered with  sur[)rise  that  the  existing  population  of  a  State  or  Kingdom  were  in  con- 
dition, sentiment  and  conduct  a  diflerent  race  from  their  fathers. 

Certain  obscure  inhabitants  of  the  German  cities  along  the  Rhine,  whose  names 
have  hardly  escaped  oblivion,  seeking  to  multiply  copies  of  books  without  the  labour 
of  repeated  transcription,  fell  upon  the  invention  of  the  art  of  printing.  They  aimed 
onl}'  at  an  enhancement  of  the  profits  of  the  occupation  from  which  they  derived 
their  subsistence,  and  little  suspected  the  amount  of  influence  they  were  exerting 
upon  the  destinies  of  man  through  all  succeeding  time. 

Some  of  the  intelligent  observers  of  the  progress  of  events  whom  I  have  the  b.onour 
of  addressing,  arc  probably  not  aware  that  in  our  own  day  provision  has  been  made 
for  extending  the  triumphs  of  this  art,  and  producing,  by  means  of  it,  important 
changes  in  the  structure  and  condition  of  society.  Especially  is  this  true  in  relation 
to  our  own  country.  Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  we  are  in  the  midst  of  a 
revolution.  Not  only  have  the  seeds  of  great  improvements  been  cast  into  a  prolific 
soil,  but  the  fruit  has  already,  in  some  instances,  been  gathered.  The  changes  to 
which  we  refer  have  also  a  very  intimate  connexion  with  the  objects  for  which  wc 
.    are  associated  as  members  of  the  Institute  of  Education. 

V  From  the  date  of  its  invention  the  art  of  printing  advanced  rapidly  to  a  hiffh  de- 
>  gree  of  exeellencc.  The  early  editions  of  the  classics  are  still  admired  as  specimens 
"*    of  typographical  elegance  as  well  as  accuracy.      It  then  remained  stationary,  or 


s^ 


nearly  so,  for  about  three  ceDturies.  Perfection  was  supposed  to  he,  if  not  actually 
attained,  at  least  so  nearly  approached  in  its  diffi-rent  processes,  that  material  im- 
provement was  neither  attempted  nor  hoped  for.  Yet  withm  the  last  twenty  years 
the  lahour  and  expense  of  printing  on  an  extensive  scale  and  with  a  large  amount  of 
capital  embarked,  have  been  so  far  diminished  as  to  have  reduced  to  one-third  of  their 
former  cost  all  the  great  standard  works  of  English  literature. 

Whilst  improvement  in  the  methods  and  operations  of  [irinting  have  been  tending 
to  the  result  of  rendering  books  cheap  and  accessible  to  persons  in  the  humblest  cir- 
cumstances in  whatever  part  of  the  world,  a  cause  of  a  totally  different  character  has 
been  contributing,  and  is  destined  herr  after  to  contribute  largely  to  the  production  of 
the  same  etTccl  in  the  United  States. 

It  is  known  to  those  who  have  turned  their  attention  at  all  to  the  manufacture  of 
books,  that  the  wages  of  the  compositor  or  person  who  arranges  the  letters  in  the 
order  in  which  they  stand  on  the  printed  page  enters  as  an  important  item  into  the 
cost  of  their  production.  In  this  country  it  may  amount  to  one  half,  or  even  more; 
and  as  it  is  a  fixed  quantity — remaining  the  same  whether  the  edition  of  a  book  be 
large  or  small — it  follows  that  the  expense  of  pnnting  a  great  number  of  copies  does 
not  increase  with,  or  in  proportion  to  the  number.  There  is  a  great  advantage  in 
large  editions.  The  price  of  each  copy,  including  the  expenses  of  paper  and  (iress- 
work  and  a  small  fraction  only  of  the  wages  of  the  compositor,  is  reduced  and  brought 
within  very  moderate  limits. 

On  this  account,  that  people  are  to  be  regarded  as  unfortunate  whose  language  is 
confined  to  a  small  number  of  persons.  Their  literature  will  almost  necessarily  be 
barren — their  books  few  in  number,  and  those  expensive.  The  population  of  tlie 
North-eastern  corner  of  Spain  and  of  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  who  use  the 
Basque  and  Ga;lic  tongues,  arc  in  this  predicament.  The  Bible  and  a  few  small 
volumes  of  devotion,  popular  poetry,  medicine  and  husbandry,  will  exhaust  the  cata- 
logue of  their  best  furnished  libraries.  iNlcn  of  science  have  to  struggle  with  the 
same  kind  of  difficulty.  Alathematicians,  chemists,  entomologists,  botanists,  and 
others  that  might  be  enumerated,  constitute  a  number  of  distinct  nations,  employing 
a  language  with  which  the  rest  of  mankind  do  not  care  to  make  themselves  acquaint- 
ed, and  the  books  they  can  venture  to  pubhsh  are  few  in  number  compared  with  what 
the  interests  of  those  sciences  demand,  and  those  few  exceedingly  costly. 

The  population  of  this  jountry  has  now  reached  a  point  where  this  kind  of  embar- 
rassment— so  far  at  least  as  the  great  body  of  our  iiteraturc  is  concerned— has  begun 
to  disappear.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  a  high  degree  of  enterprize 
Was  implied  in  the  publication  of  a  book  which  will  now  be  committed  to  the  press 
in  perfect  security  that  the  investment  will  be  profitable  and  rcimbGrsement  speedy. 
The  increase  of  our  population  is  going  therefore  to  co-operate  with  the  improve- 
ments in  the  art  of  printing  in  depressing  the  price  of  books  very  far  below  what  it 
Tras  even  a  very  few  years  ago.    With  the  fuads  which  wc  have  exhausted  in  tho 


•1 


jiurohasc  of  a  few  vokiiucs,  a  man  of  tho  next  <Tpnpration  will  provide  himself  with 
wliat  nl.^^  bear  the  name  cl' a  library — and  before  our  nuiidiers  sliall  liave  rr.'lirj 
fifty  nii'.lions,  (a  day  not  far  distant,)  every  work  having  any  pretentions  to  neri!  will 
be  brought  into  tlie  market,  in  the  certainly  that  somewhere  in  the  long  windinirs  of 
the  Atlantic  coast — of  the  .\]ississippi,  and  its  tributary  streams — on  the  Eastern  or 
Western  declivity  of  tlie  Alleghany,  purchasers  and  readers  will  be  found.  Our 
literature  will  have  a  cheapness  so  far  as  the  price,  and  a  richness  so  far  as  the  num- 
ber and  variety  of  the  volumes  in  which  it  is  contained  arc  concerned,  unequalled  by 
that  of  any  other  people  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 

I  am  apprehensive  that  these  minute  details  respecting  the  art  of  printing  and  tho 
price  of  books  will  be  regarded  by  some  persons  as  an  awkward  and  impertinent  in- 
troduction to  an  address  before  the  Institute  of  Education.  But  it  will  perhaps  bo 
admitted  as  an  apology  for  them,  that  those  considerations  of  economy  which  may  be 
scorned  and  neglected  under  other  eircuinstanees,  become  objects  of  paramount  im- 
portance when  the  means  of  extending  the  benefits  of  education  to  the  whole  popu- 
lation of  a  country  become  the  subject  of  discussion.  What  is  in  itself  trifling  and 
contemptible,  acquires  a  character  of  magnificence  if  it  be  found  to  have  a  bearing  on 
the  well  being  of  millions. 

When  the  attention  of  our  citizens  is  urgently  drawn  to  the  subject  of  popular 
education,  their  minds  recur  at  once  to  the  ])ast.  Neither  the  generation  now  upon 
the  stage,  say  they,  nor  their  fathers,  enjoyed  those  advantages  of  learning  which 
you  represent  as  indispensable.  A  few  weeks  or  months  spent  at  an  old-field  school 
C5onsti!uted  the  whole  of  their  literary  education.  They  are  not  without  their  dc- 
ficiene.es;  but  they  do,  with  decent  [)rudence  and  judgment,  manage  their  own  private 
affairs,  and  watch  over  and  secure  the  public  weal.  It  becomes  needful,  therefore, 
for  us  to  show,  not  merely  that  the  times  and  circumstances  are  changing,  but  that 
they  are  already  changed.  By  reason  of  the  greatly  diminished  expense  of  the 
manufacture  of  books  they  are  about  to  exert  a  much  greater  influence  than  ever, 
heretoibre,  on  the  character  and  condition  of  mankind.  They  are  the  lever  of 
Archimedes  that  is  to  move  the  world.  Our  own  country,  especial!}^,  is  destined  to 
be  inundated  with  them  under  every  variety  of  form,  and  on  every  variety  of  subject; 
and,  unless  we  will  consent  to  fall  into  the  back  ground  and  allow  the  people  of  other 
sections  and  States  to  outstrip  us  in  the  career  of  improvement,  education  must  be 
attended  to.  The  case  does  not  involve  a  question  of  expediency,  but  has  a  c'larac- 
Icr  of  strong  and  overwhelming  necessity. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  this  multi|)licatiou  of  books  be  not  an  evil.  If  it  be 
such,  it  is  an  evil  that  is  beyond  our  control.  We  may  stand  upon  tho  bank  of  the 
torrent,  and  utter  loud  lamentations,  as  we  see  it  pour  over  its  banks,  but  it  will  con- 
tinue to  iswell  and  sweep  on.  If  mischief  is  apprehended,  it  can  be  prevented  in  Init 
one  way — by  giving  greater  extension  and  accuracy  to  that  education  which  has 
hitherto  been  scanty  and  imperfect.     With  tlic  mere  ability  to  read;  a  rich  and  varied. 


6 

aitcraturc  before  him,  but  without  the  information  necessary  to  guide  his  selection 
and  crive  accuracy  to  his  jud<jmcnt,  a  man's  condition  will  lie  Httle  better,  thnn  if, 
when  labouring  under  disease,  and  ignorant  of  medicine,  he  be  left  in  the  p1io|)  of 
the  a|)otliecary  to  swallow  a  potent  remedy  or  a  fatal  poison,  as  he  may  hap)ien  to 
by  his  hand  on  the  one  or  the  other.  Such  a  man  is  the  very  material  on  whicli  the 
imprinciplcd  and  dcsignhig  will  delight  to  act.  But  strengthen  his  mind  by  culture, 
and  store  it  with  knowledge,  and  you  place  him  beyond  the  reach  of  danger. 

But  it  is  easy  to  enlarge  on  ihe  importance  of  education,  and  to  establish  its  neces- 
sity, by  convincing  arguments.  A  more  difficult  task  awaits  us  in  the  discussion  of 
the  methods  by  which  it  may  be  rendered  genera!  and  its  benetits  shared  by  all  ranks 
and  orders  of  society.  It  may  indeed  be  stated,  very  briefly,  that  if  we  will  give 
greater  extension  and  eflcct  to  the  scheme  of  education  at  present  in  use  amongst  us, 
a  larger  amount  of  the  time,  labour  and  annual  income  of  the  population  of  the 
country  must  be  devoted  to  this  object;  and  that,  if  thus  devoted  with  perseverance 
and  skill,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  result  desired  will  be  rcahzcd.  But  how, 
and  from  whom,  shall  the  funds  dej-tincd  to  the  purposes  of  education  be  collected,  and 
how  distributed  and  applied.  The  case  evidently,  not  only  admits,  but  demands,  the 
interposition  of  the  Lawgiver — rnd  for  two  or  three  diflercnt  reasons. 

Where  the  consequences  of  neglect  in  the  discharge  of  parental  duties  soon  mani- 
fest themselves,  it  is  not.,  in  most  cases,  expedient  for  the  State  to  interfere  in  behalf 
of  the  child.  If  the  poor  man  intermit  those  labours  by  which  his  family  is  sup[)ort- 
cd,  hunger  soon  looks  in  at  his  door,  and  his  heart  is  rent  by  the  voices  of  his  children 
clamouring  for  bread.  He  will  be  impelled  to  his  task,  however  ungrateful,  by  a 
feeling  more  intense  than  a  dread  of  the  penalty  vi'hich  the  laws  of  his  country  assign 
to  a  neglect  of  his  duty.  That  the  public  authorities  should  enforce  the  cultivation 
of  the  earth,  or  a  diligent  application  to  the  mechanic  arts,  is  therefore  unnecessary, 
and  in  this  country  at  least  impracticable.  It  is  said  that  the  Dutch,  when  a  man 
will  not  labour,  put  him  into  a  cistern,  furnislicd  with  a  pump — set  the  water  to  run- 
ning upon  him,  and  then  leave  liim  his  election,  between  jiumping  himself  clear  and 
strangling.  But  if  this  method  were  introduced  amongst  us,  it  is  to  be  apprehended 
that  one  half  the  community  would  be  kept  busy  throughout  the  year  in  making 
cisterns  and  pumps  for  the  other. 

But  in  many  cases  a  parent  will  provide  his  chilii  with  food  and  clothing,  whilst 
lie  neglects  the  cultivation  of  his  mind.  Education  is  a  plant  of  slow  growth. — 
Though  it  may  blossom  and  give  fair  promise,  it  does  not  produce  much  fiuit  till 
after  the  lapse  of  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  Men  are  not  fond  of  labouring  for  so 
remote  a  return.  As  the  boy,  when  he  is  grown  to  be  a  man,  is  to  exert  an  influ- 
ence, either  good  or  evil,  upon  the  society  of  whicli  he  is  a  member — that  society  has 
a  right,  in  self-defence,  to  compel  the  father  to  allow  his  son  time,  and  to  such  extent 
as  his  property  will  admit,  the  means,  of  obtaining  an  education. 

But  further:  in  thccstabli.^hmcnt  and  su;>^!Ovt  of  common  schools,  individual  catrr- 


pfize  Ccan  effect  but  little — there  must  be  co-operation.  Nor  can  this  be  safely  Ici't  ty 
such  arraii^eiuents  as  the  parties  concerned  shall  be  led,  under  the  influence  of  the 
Common  interest  they  have  in  the  matter,  to  make  with  each  other.  When  a  settle- 
ment is  small,  it  often  happens  that  the  amiable  passions  of  anger,  envy,  hatred,  with 
others  of  lesser  name,  kindly  come  in  to  swell  the  numbers  of  a  scanty  pojiulation, 
and  a  man  will  choose  that  his  children  shall  never  know  a  letter,  rather  than  share 
the  benelits  of  education  with  the  children  of  the  person  from  whom  he  may  have 
received  some  trivial  insult.  The  iron  chain  of  the  law  is  here  required,  with  it? 
wholesome  girding,  to  bind  these  jarring  elements  into  a  single,  if  it  be  not  a  peaceful 
and  harmonious  mass — to  communicate  certain  limited  corporate  powers,  and  prevent 
what  is  so  important  to  the  welfare  of  the  child  from  being  left  to  the  result  of  a  long 
and  friendly  negociation. 

In  settUng  the  amount  which  each  individual  shall  contribute  to  the  fund  destined 
to  the  support  of  the  school,  it  does  not  seem  to  be  needful  to  enquire  very  solicitous- 
ly, how  many  children  he  may  have  to  share  in  its  benefits,  nor  to  exempt  him, 
though  he  be  childless.  His  abihty  is  the  principal  point  to  be  ascertained.  The 
general  dif^U5^ion  of  knowledge  is  of  such  advantage  to  all,  though  its  beneficial 
effects  reach  some  by  direct  and  others  by  indirect  channels,  that,  like  the  frame  of 
government  under  which  we  live,  it  may  claim  a  general  support. 

I  am  well  aware  that  it  is  a  maxim,  perhaps  an  axiom  in  the  books  of  law,  that  a 
man's  house  is  his  castle  and  his  plantation  his  little  kingdom,  of  which  he  alone  is 
the  sovereign  Lord,  and  in  the  possession,  management  and  disposal  of  which  and  of 
whatever  it  yields,  he  cannot  be  interrupted  or  interfered  with,  without  manifest  and 
great  injustice.  It  is  undoubtedly  best  for  all  ranks  and  orders  of  men,  that  wc 
should  be  permitted  to  acquire  property;  to  hold  it  by  the  tenure  just  dcfcribcd,  and 
transfer  it  to  others,  to  be  thus  held  by  them;  and  those  are  the  enemies  of  the  human 
race  who  advance  and  advocate  a  different  doctrine.  But  let  us  distinguish  between 
absolute  rights  and  such  as  the  public  welfare  requires  that  we  possess.  It  has  never 
yet  been  my  good  fortune  to  meet  with  the  original  title-deeds  by  which  the  God  of 
Nature  conveyed  to  one  of  his  creatures  an  absolute  and  perfect  property  in  a  single 
acre  of  the  soil  of  this  land.  If,  then,  the  pulilic  good  require  that  every  man  be 
protected  and  defended  in  the  possession  and  enjoyment  of  his  estate,  and  if  it  fur- 
ther require  that  some  inconsiderable  portion  of  his  income  be  diverted  from  the  pur- 
poses to  which  he  would  apply  it,  to  meet  the  expenses  of  general  education,  let 
not  such  disposal  of  it  receive  the  name  of  injustice.  The  State  has  a  right  to 
specify  the  terms  and  conditions  on  which  protection  shall  be  granted  and  posses- 
sion allowed;  nor  is  it  more  reasonable  for  a  person  to  refuse  to  contribute  to  the 
fund  destined  to  the  support  of  common  schools,  because  he  has  no  children  to  send 
to  them,  than  to  object  to  the  payment  of  those  taxes  by  which  the  criminal  law  is 
upheld  and  executed,  because  its  penalties  are  to  be  inflicted  upon  another  man,  and 
he  is  not  to  experience  in  hi.s  own  person  the -joys  of  whipping,  cropping,  branding; 
Strangulation,  and  imprisonment. 


The  Legislature  may  interfere  with  advantage,  and  without  passing  the  bounds  oi 
justice,  in  tlie  business  of  education,  to  the  extent  of  clothinur  the  counties,  or  other 
smiilhr  municipal  divisions  established  for  this  particular  purpose,  with  the  power  of 
imposing  taxes  for  the  support  of  schools  to  a  limited  amount,  and  according  to  the 
plan  of  assessment  already  in  use  for  other  purposes.  It  may  then  enforce  the  main- 
tenance of  a  certain  number  of  schools  by  the  imposition  of  penalties  in  case  of 
neglect,  and  beyond  this  its  action  will  be  neither  profitable  nor  exjedient. 

Soiue  persons  have  a  magnificent  scheme  for  sustaining  schools  altogether  by  funds 
drawn  from  the  State   Treasury.     It  suits  their  convenience  and  habits  much  better 
to  lie  upon  their  backs  and  rail  at  the  Lenislature  for  not  sending  a  schoolmaster  to 
educate  their  children,  than  to  get  up  and   a;)i)ly  their  own  shoulders  to  the  wheel. 
If  a  vote  of  the  Legislature  could  call  millions  of  gold  and  silver  trom  non-existence 
into  lieing,  or  if  their  voice  had  even  half  the  potency  of  the  lyre  of  Amphion,  and 
could  make  tall  pine  trees  descend  from  their  elevation  and  arrange  themselves  into 
comely  school-houses,  we  would  ourselves   be  foremost  in   invoking  their  aid.     It 
would  afjpear  from  the  tcnour  of  certain  orations  on  this  subject,  to  which  wc  have 
listened  with   wonder,  as  we  have  heard   them  uttered  with  warmth  and  apparent 
sincerity,  that  the  Legislature   have  the  ability,  without  increasing  the  burthens  of 
the  people,  tu  extend  the  benefits  of  education  to  every  remote  village  and  settlement 
in  the  country.     But  there  is  no  mystery  in  the  case.     A  warrant  upon  the  treasury 
i   for  one  hundred  dollars,  to  pay  the  salary  of  a  schoolmaster,  will  make  just  as  great 
an  inroad  ujwn  the  amount  of  funds  in  hand  as  if  devoted  to  some  other  object.— 
When  the  vaults  of  the  treasury  are  exhausted,  they   must   be  replenished  by  the 
tooth-drawing  process  of  taxation,  or  by  some  equivalent.     If  the  State  is  to  sustaia 
conunon  schools,  funds  for  this  purpose  must  be  drawn  from  the  pockets  of  the  peo- 
ple— must  be  part  of  the  annual  product  of  their  labours — drawn  from  them  for  the 
express  purpose  of  being  paid  back   again — but  in  j>art  only;  for  a  part  must  be  re» 
tained  to  cover  the  expenses  of  management.     And  whether  it   be  of  any  particular 
advantage  to  a  village  or  settlement  to  pay  one  hundred  dollars  into  the  public  trea- 
sury, that  it  may  receive  ninety-five  in  return,  to  aid  in  supporting  the  schoolmaster, 
we  may  leave  to  the  arithmetician  who  has  not  gone  beyond  counting  upon  Iiis 
■fingers  to  decide. 

The  results  of  the  attempts  that  have  been  made  in  other  States  to  maintain  free 
schools  by  monies  drawn  from  the  public  treasury,  either  directly  and  avowedly,  or 
indirectly,  through  the  medium  of  a  literary  fund,  are  not  of  a  nature  to  induce  us 
to  rush  very  eagerly  into  the  system.  Large  sums  have  been  expended  in  this  way 
by  our  nearest  neighbours — Virginia  and  South  Carolina — and  good  has  been  done; 
but  at  an  expense  that  is  not  in  keeping  with  the  advantage  derived  from  it.  Con- 
necticut has  a  school-fund  of  very  nearly  two  millions,  and  is  able  to  pay  to  hel 
citizens  a  larger  sum  for  the  supiort  of  c  >:  nii-n  schools  than  she  draws  from  them 
under  the  form  of  taxes.    And  /et  it  is  doubted  by  many  persons  who  have  watched 


V?ith  care  and  intelliffencc  the  eflccts  of  these  ample  contributions  to  the  cause  of  leavn- 
injr,  whoiiiiT  it  weri'  not  brtter  tiiat  the  school  fund  were  anniiiilated,  and  t  n-  s  stem 
abandoned,  Massachusetts,  with  a  population  of  kindred  habits  aii<l  character,  but 
witiiout  a  school-fund,  has  better  schools,  and   without  feeling  the  burthen. 

The  only  effect  of  the  system  is  to  convert  the  population  of  the  State  into  a  joint 
stock  company  for  this  particular  object.  The  best  writers  on  political  eco  Mmy 
represent,  that  such  companies  are  always  an  expensive,  and  often  an  unsuccessful 
agftu'v  for  the  transaction  of  any  business.  And  for  this  reason,  that  no  one  is 
thoroughly  interested  in  watching  over  their  concerns;  preventing  fraud  and  embez- 
zlement, and  following  on  with  promptitude,  where  a  prospect  of  profitable  invest- 
ment is  opened.  They  have  this  character  in  a  higher  degree,  in  pro|)ortion  as  they 
are  larger.  The  United  States  pay  more  liberally,  in  general,  for  services  rendered, 
than  a  single  State — the  State  has  work  executed  at  higher  cost  than  a  county — and 
a  county  will  be  less  happy  and  successful  in  the  transaction  of  business  than  an 
individual.  The  business  of  maintaining  schools  will,  therefore,  be  conducted  on 
the  most  economical  plan,  when  the  eagle  eye  of  private  interest  is  watching  over  it, 
and  superintending  both  its  collections  and  disbursements. 

The  only  institutions  that  can  with  propriety  claim  the  direct  and  efficient  patron- 
age of  the  government  are  such  as  private  enterprize  or  even  the  co-operation  of  a 
few  individuals  is  not  competent  to  establish  and  support.  Of  these,  an  University 
may  lurnish  one  of  the  fairest  and  best  examples.  In  regard  to  every  thing  else,  it 
is  best  that  the  people  should  be  thrown,  and  should  regard  themselves  as  thrown, 
upon  their  own  resources — and  for  this  simple  and  sufficient  reason,  that,  after  all 
the  d.uiiiguity  we  may  employ,  and  the  name  of  literary  or  other  fund  we  may  give 
to  the  machinery  we  use,  the  people  have  to  bear  the  expense,  and  can  accomplish 
the  desired  object  in  a  cheaper  and  better  way  than  any  in  which  it  can  be  executed 
for  them. 

But  here  the  very  worthy  and  excellent  gentlemen  by  whom  I  was  designated  to 
the  duty  I  have  the  honor  of  fultilling,  will  perhaps  exclaim  with  indignation,  that 
the  |)roduction  of  arguments,  and  the  establishment  of  conclusions,  such  as  these, 
were  not  the  objects  of  the  appointment.  We  wanted  you  to  shew  how  decent 
schoolhouses  can  be  made  to  rise  spontaneously  out  of  the  earth;  schoolmasters  be 
taught  to  live  upon  air  and  clothe  themselves,  with  a  mist  or  vapour,  so  as  to  need  no 
su[)iiort  from  us;  and  how,  instead  of  rain,  we  .nay  get  now  and  then,  in  the  course 
of  t'le  suaimer,  a  shower  of  spelling-books.  As  I  have  wandered  so  far  froai  the 
train  of  thought  by  them  regarded  as  the  only  proper  one,  they  will  perhaps  declare 
this  discourse  of  mine  to  be  a  mere  lecture  as  it  were  about  nothing  at  all— and  even 
compel  me  to  lecture  again— a  misfortune  in  which  I  should  hope  my  audience  would 
grant  me  their  pity  and  sympathy,  as  I  can  assure  them  they  should  have  mine.  To 
escape,  if  possible,  so  great  an  evil,  I  must  propose  some  pUii  hy  whi^-h  the  .'sisting 
faci I  iti;'s  for  acquiring  an  education  may  be  increased  without  an  enhancement  of 
the  expense. 


Mawp  informs  ns,  in  his  travels  in  Enzil,  that  as  the  Portufruese  proceeded  in 
TvorViiuj,  I  lie  ijolu  mines  of  tliat  country,  they  fell  in  with  certain  pebbles  of  nicnler.ite 
size,  which  they  were  led  to  collect  and  preserve  as  curiosities  merely,  without  attach- 
ing any  value  to  them,  and  which  they  used  as  counters  in  their  games  of  chance 
and  skill.  At  length,  some  person  observed  that  these  pebbles  resembled  those 
brought  from  India  to  Europe;  wiiich,  after  being  cut  and  pohshed,  are  attached  as 
brilliant  ornaments,  under  the  name  of  diamonds,  to  the  robes  of  Princes.  These 
stones  from  Brazil  proved  on  trial  to  be  diamonds. 

I  have  long  bi-on  of  the  opinion,  that  we  have  amongst  us  a  treasure,  correspond- 
ing to  these  precious  gems  from  the  Brazilian  mines,  which  may  be  made  available 
for  the  purposes  of  education — which  is  before  our  eyes  from  day  to  day — and  yet, 
hardly  a  person  beside  myself  appears  to  be  fully  aware  of  its  transcendent  value 
and  excellence.  This  treasure  is  the  female  se.\ — which  I  might,  perhaps,  claim  as 
lay  own  by  the  right  of  first  discovery.  And  here  I  must  beg  those  fair  maidens 
who  grace  and  animate  our  anniversary  by  their  presence,  not  to  take  the  alarm,  under 
the  idea  that  they  are  going  to  be  requested  to  become  instructresses  in  the  common 
schools.  Will  they  have  the  goodness  to  attend  ()articularly  to  the  exact  nature  of 
the  illustrations  we  have  employed.  Tt  is  the  oiamonds  that  are  yet  unpolished, 
that  we  propose  to  devote  to  this  occupation — not  such  as  to  native  brilliancy  have 
already  added  all  the  radiance  and  beauty  which  the  most  exquisite  touches  of  art 
can  communicate.  Abandoning  metaphor,  we  refer  to  those  who  are  so  elegantly 
described  and  characterized  by  one  of  our  American  poets,  as  "Brown-corn-fed 
nymphs" — young,  females,  born  in  humble  circu  nstaiices;  with)Ut  propefty,  and 
whose  honest  industry  is  t'le  only  fund  to  which  they  can  look  for  a  maintenance. 

The  invention  of  certain  articles  of  machinery  used  in  the  cotton  factory  has  ren- 
dered those  occupations  of  spinning  and  weaving,  which  in  the  most  palmy  day.-;  of 
Greece  and  Rome  were  the  pleasure  and  the  pride  of  their  fairest  and  proudest 
matrons — the  Andromaches,  Penelopes  and  Cornelias  of  ancient  story — a  mere  use- 
less waste  of  time.  The  labour  of  females  in  these  employments  is  und'ir  existing 
circumstances  worth  next  to  nothing. 

Willing  as  far  as  possible  to  give  a  practical  character  to  these  remarks,  t  have 
accumulated  a  considerable  mass  of  facts  respecting  hanks  and  cuts  of  yarn;  ''iv)W 
many  can  he  spun,  and  how  many  woven  up  in  a  day,  and  the  value  of  the  w'lole 
when  the  task  is  completed;  and  by  the  application  of  the  principles  of  the  transoen- 
devital  geometry  to  these  facts,  I  hoped  to  ascertain  what  a  young  woman  may  n  i  ird 
as  the  probable  remuneration  of  her  labour  fur  a  year.  But  fearing  that  if  I  ai!')>ved 
mvsclf  to  enter  upon  these  sublime  subjects,  1  might  be  so  far  overcome  by  them  as 
to  neglect  Horace's  precept — 

"Servetur  ad  imum. 
Q,ua-i&,  a":  'ncepto  processerit:" 

and  fired  with  the  thcnrTe',  inigiit  break  out  into  a  sweet  strain  of  'off;        '  impas- 
sioned poesy,  1  determdned  to  avoid  tlie  dangerous  topic.    Of  the  general  state  of  the 


11 

facts,  Iiowever,  there  can  lie  no  doubt— that  many  a  female,  who  is  now  nomeless, 
fr'cndles>i,  lielpless — reaiU'  to  accopt  the  hand  of  a  man  whom  noitlirr  her  uiiilcrst md- 
inij  nor  her  heart  approves,  as  a  means  of  esca|)e  from  still  ifn^ater  evils — mijj'U,  v.ith 
a  little  instruction,  comnianil  a  home;  he  independent  of  cold-hearteii  relatives,  and 
looked  up  to  with  the  afl'ection  due  to  a  second  mother  by  many  a  child,  indebterl  to 
her  ibr  a  plain  but  competent  education.  Ail  this  would  be  accomplished,  and  the 
benefits  of  learnincr  ditfused  widely  through  the  country,  with  hardly  any  expense — 
with  a  trifling  addition  only  to  the  amount  of  wages  these  persons  are  now  receiving. 

In  the  Northern  States,  the  young  females  find  employment  in  the  factories,  and 
General  Jackson,  when  he  visits  that  part  of  the  country,  makes  his  trinm)ihal  entry 
into  the  towns  where  their  operations  are  carried  on,  through  files  of  factory  girls  a 
mile  or  more  in  length.  Should  he  favor  North  Carolina  with  a  visit,  I  would  have 
hiip)  welcomed  at  the  Virginia  line  by  a  mile  of  schoolmistresses,  each  with  a  diction- 
ary and  spelling-book  under  her  arm,  and  the  Governor  of  the  State,  or  President  of 
the  University,  (ao  one  ontre  uther  could  orocure  himself,  by  active  electioneering, 
to  be  elected  to  that  high  office,)  at  their  heacT. 

I  may  be  met  here  with  the  objection,  that  females  would  be  unable  to  manage  the 
raw,  unpoHshed  and  refractory  materials  of  which  our  common  schools  are  likely 
sometimes  to  be  composed.  On  this  point,  I  may  appeal  to  the  more  venerable  pirt  of 
my  audience — those  who  bend  their  awful  brews  like  Jove  in  the  halls  of  justice  and 
legislation,  and  whose  nod  decides  the  fate  of  men  and  States,  and  demand  of  them 
whether  there  is  hkely  to  be  any  incapacity  to  rv.le  and  govern.  But  as  this  may 
prove  a  delicate  subject  of  inquiry,  I  will  state  a  little  the  results  of  my  own  expe- 
rience, and  mention,  that  one  of  the  severest,  most  soul-subduing  and  effectual  casti- 
gations  I  ever  received  at  school  was  applied  by  a  very  small  and  delicate  female  bind. 

But  should  a  want  of  vigour  in  the  instructresses  in  controlling  the  population  of 
their  little  empires,  render  necessary  the  occasional  interfere nce~aiid  co-operaiion  of 
the  [larents  of  the  children,  this  is  the  very  result  which,  beyond  almost  every  other, 
is  to  be  desired  and  hoped  for.  The  little  interest  they  excite  is  a  principal  cause  of 
the  Kmali  advantage  derived  by  the  rising  generation  from  the  existing  institutions 
established  for  their  benefit.  A  man  will  know  the  name  and  countenance  of  the 
person  he  employs  as  an  instructor  for  his  children;  be  able  to  say  that  the  scltiol- 
house  Ues  in  a  given  direction,  because  that  way  runs  the  path  along  winch  the 
negroes  went  with  the  wagon  to  assist  in  building  it,  and  that  path  his  childr.  ii  take 
when  they  start  for  school  in  the  morning,  or  he  helped  to  raise  it  with  hi.-  own 
hands,  and  knows  well  its  situation  and  magnitude — but  of  the  mode  of  instruction 
adopted,  and  the  progress  made  there,  he  is  content  to  live  In  ignorance.  Why 
should  the  child  trouble  himself  about  that  which  occupies  so  few  of  the  thoughts  of 
the  father?  Whilst  we  would  ascribe  the  very  supericn-  efficiency  of  Sunda^  Schools 
m  no  inc.o"'-"'''°»able  degrpe  to  the  particular  favoUi  ''- Uy  God, 

rewardijro-  V        and  excellent  labour  of '•In.. -tiJii  chant  .    .-^  -..v,uni.^i.iiice  that  so 
many,  younst  *nd  old,  are  embarked  in  the  enterprize,.  watching  over  its  progress  and 


13 

tirging  it  on,  contrilnites  'hevoinl  doubt  to  stimulate  the  industry  of  the  child,  and  aids^ 
in  s('cnviiig  the  ai'U.:i^  result. 

C'pst  le  premier  pas  qui  coute.  The  entrance  on  almost  every  new  scheme  of 
action  is  enibarrasse<l  with  distrcssinfr  difficulties.  Those  encumbering  the  scheme 
proposed  would  soon  disappear,  and  other  beneficial  results,  not  less  important  thau 
those  immediately  in  view,  might  be  expected  to  follow. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  edwcation.  One  is  derived  from  books,  and  requires  only 
time,  talent  and  industry  for  its  acquisition.  It  is  that  which  is  in  view  when  enqui- 
ries are  made  respecting  popular  education,  and  the  best  means  of  conducting  and 
accomplishing  it.  The  other  is  obtained  by  commerce  with  mankind,  and  is  such  a«; 
sharjiened  the  intellect  of  the  ancient  Athenian,  who  without  literature  was  never- 
theless acute,  able  and  ready  to  detect  any  fallacy  presented  to  his  understanding,  and 
with  a  taste  which  in  delicacy  and  correctness  is  not  surpassed  by  that  of  the  most 
aCwtimjilished  scholars  ol'  modern  times,  in  the  towns,  villages  and  populous  settle- 
ments, as  also  in  the  persons  of  the  wealthy  who  have  r.ppnrtnnitipB  nf  intercourse 
■witJ!  the  world,  both  are  accomr>'i«^'°J,  "'<"«  or  less,  perfectly  together.  But  in  the 
less  fertile  distriete,  where  habitations  occur  only  at  distant  intervals,  the  knowledge 
derived  from  bo<>ks  is  wanting  through  the  want  of  an  instructer  to  communicate  the 
first  rudiments  of  learning,  and  the  mind  brought  into  collision  with  mind  but  sel- 
dom— stagnates.  (  ouid  the  population  of  our  country  be  thoroughly  aroused  and 
interested  on  the  subject  of  common  schools,  they  would  themseves  furnish  an  oppor- 
tunity and  occasion  of  intercourse  between  families  and  neighbouring  sections  of  • 
countrv — such  as  neither  the  muster,  the  lax-gathering,  nor  any  other  assemhK  of  ■ 
the  people  does  afford,  for  that  interchange  of  thought  and  feeling  which  operates  ',: 
almost  as  powerfully  as  books  themselves  in  the  diffusion  of  a  spirit  of  informa- 
tion and  intelligence. 

Whn  iu  tiic  ch.i.-,iiaii  pniiamnropisi  uy  whom  this  great  work  is  to  be  accom{)Iish-  T 
ed,  I  know  not;  whoever  he  may  be,  his  name  will  merit  a  place  on  the  roll  of  true 
faijie  and  greatness  but  just  beneath  that  of  Howard.     The  exertions  of  the  Institute 
in  tills  good  cause  are  meritorious;  but  it  is  not,  after  all,  by   the  appointment  ol  a 
person  to  rise  up  on  the  day  before  Commencement,  execute  the  annual  roarini^  on  ,'■ 
the  subject  of  education,  and  sit  down,  that  the  work  is  to  be  done.      Warmer  h(>arts,    ■ 
and  n,ore  faithful  nrn!  laborious  iiands  than  have  been  yet  engaged,  are  necessary,  or  •'' 
all  our  past  exertions  will  prove  unavailing. 


^••y- 


